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Friends,
hope your new year is off to a good start with tight lines and slabs in the bucket.
I noticed on my lake I’ve only caught one black crappie so far. I haven’t caught too many so could just be luck of the draw, but it Got me to thinking...Do these fish have slightly different behaviors and do they ever school together?
Best,
Slab Apprentice
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In my experience, they do have different "preferences" (temps, habitat, food), but in the absence of any of those things they will adapt to their available resources. Like for instance Black Crappie prefer water weeds, but in their absence will utilize wood cover ... just like White Crappie.
As far as "schooling together" .... probably not to any great degree, but they do occupy the same cover at times, so you are likely to catch both species in the same spot on occasion.
I had something happen this past fall I’d never saw. I was fishing a big lay down. I start on the upstream side and caught 7-8 nice blacks. Stopped catching and moved over to the downstream side and caught 10 big whites. Another interesting thing 4 of the blacks were black nose. I had only caught one before that.
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Did something similar one Fall trip down to Watts Bar Lake (Tenn) ... fished a laydown and caught a few small White Crappie in the shallower mid trunk area, and then larger Black Crappie down at the deeper top branches of the laydown.Quote:
Originally Posted by Damion Kidd
From what I have been told and what I have experienced, the black crappie prefer marshy areas and whites prefer open lake structure. I have caught blacks in open water areas but it is RARE to catch a white in a marshy area! Also I was told that you do NOT stock white crappie in a pond that has had bass stocked in it because they compete for the same food group BUT it is ok to stock black crappie with bass.
I catch a lot of black and black nose crappie. Yes they will relate to wood but more often than not I catch them off of hard rock. Here is a spot I frequent often. All of these are crappie. Wood....and lots of it......is just yards away yet I rarely ever find any crappie on the wood. This spot is on Center Hill Lake.
Regards
Attachment 392485
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I'm on board with shadow, North Texas to MS Gulf Coast is a bit spread apart but the Blacks seem to be holding closer to the bank than the Whites. If the tide is running say 1-1.5ft range the Blacks are in front of the wood but usually closer in to the bank or shallower than the Whites. The Whites are using the same structure to block tide generated current and hold right out of the current, behind, but close enough to see a jig or shiner go by. Always deeper too, furthest away from the bank. Now this is creek or river behavior, more winter patterns for me, but holds true above the 43 Bridge on Ross Barnett too. I never catch a White in the Marsh, below US Hwy 90 say, and when I do it's skinny, hungry, lost, or both.
as stated the black seem to like rock when its available , this is why so many are found on bridge columns .
there is a small plankton creature that is consumed by them during certain months of the year that are on rocks and concrete .
its only a quarter of an inch long and thus the need for a micro bait .....
i know of a few locations where large boulders are off in deep water and they seem to frequent them often .
one thing for certain ,the spot you are hitting has a ton of black crappie in it ,and some of them are quite large for our neck of the woods , 2lb plus range ....
you might try looking a bit shallower ,8 to 10 foot of water real soon , the blacks will be in a pre spawn pattern sometime in late Feb. i would tend to think in that lake,when your water temp rises 10 degrees from its low ,you best go prowl some shallower rocky water early in the morning after about 2 or 3 days of real hot sunshine .....western rocky shore lines close to the deep water channel bro .....the more sunshine exposure on the them rocks the better .
if you find a good spot watch over your shoulder , the crowd down that way will beat your spot to death if they see you on fish and thats a fact ! :yikes
Thanks Ketchn! I really appreciate the advice. I was starting to wonder what to do next as I am totally new to chasing these fish. When you fish pre spawn are you throwing jigs or vertical jigging? I’ll read on here and see what I can find. You are right about the crowd lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Ketchn
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Also thanks to all the others who have commented. Cheers.
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jigs under floats if they are really spawning in short water , possibly casting and dragging a jig in a hop hop motion close to the bottom if they are prespawn and or staged for the in between quickee spawns that occur often down here .
the crappie here almost never just spawn one time , they spawn several times in most spots .
Remind him he needs to fish shorter rods and have a short handled net to reduce "prying eyes" exposure while landing a fish............ I will reel a fish up close to the tip and slip it over the gunnel into a bucket of water or just lay a rod down on the deck with a fish on if I have a boat passing. Not a problem so much in the rivers but on Ross Barnett "The blind regularly lead the blind", one guy pulls up a fish, 10 guys give him company.
Wow never knew they could spawn multiple times..I have a LOT to learn about these beautiful fishQuote:
Originally Posted by Ketchn
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I don't think he meant that "literally". I think what he was trying to say was they spawn in waves over an extended period of time, not "all at once".Quote:
Originally Posted by Slab Apprentice
Oh okay that makes sense. Thanks pappyQuote:
Originally Posted by CrappiePappy
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My home lake is a recreational lake. We have both species in it. It’s seasonal on them tho. Early spring is the blacks. Mid to late spring whites are mixed in the catch. Then all summer the majority of the fish are blacks. I know the whites are there but the recreational boaters make it nearly impossible to fish the areas they are roaming. As fall moves in, those whites start moving towards the back bays and most guys are putting their rods away and picking up their guns. But the white crappie bite is the best of the year then. I catch them in water from 4 to 20 feet deep. They’ll be suspended down around 8 to 12 foot in the deep water and 3 to 5 foot in the shallower water. Look for wood shallow and bait schools deeper. I enjoy watching that bobber go down in the shallow water but hang gliding deeper water is my favorite.
My two favorite lakes have both Black & White Crappie, and there's some black nose in the smaller lake as well. Both lakes have 60+ feet of water in the deepest basin and large flats in the shallow sections with well defined creek channels. I mostly target and catch Black Crappie. They seem to be more scattered and regularly suspend in the lower third of the lake in Summer. I don't fish much in Spring because I'm obsessed with hunting turkeys and they get all my free time when I'm not working. The White Crappie I catch in Summer tend to be deeper, suspended in schools relating to channels, rather than random anywhere in the main body of the lake, like Black Crappie. The Black Nose can be mixed in with either species, though they're mainly with Black Crappie.
I pull crankbaits 90% of the time, from shallow running 06 Husky Jerks (in ghost color) over flats adjacent to deep water on sunny, calm winter days in slightly cloudy water. I drift with jigs over deep water flats next to channels in clearer water on cloudy days in Winter, then run 4cm to 7cm Flicker Shads on Summer days after the spawn when they're starting to regroup and chase shad. Most of the White Crappie I catch are by accident if I run deeper or along channels.
In early Fall, they move shallower (following shad) into the upper 1/4 of the lake and the deep basin looks like a ghost town compared to what it did the months before. One lake closes down for winter (open early March - early November) and the other is open year-round.
I hope some of this helps you increase your catch.
Jim